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to the first level, while
Domi stayed on the second floor for a swim in the pool. Brigid and Lakesh
returned to the ops center, and
Kane walked to the armory, with Grant beside him.
"I guess you have a strategy in mind," the big man remarked.
"Until we get the lay of the land, there's not much I can do. I'll go in hard,
armored up. If there are any
Mags there, they might think I'm one of Pollard's squad bringing in
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merchandise. That should buy me some time."
Grant nodded, but it was a very distracted nod.
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They strode down the corridor past the vehicle de-pot and workroom and entered
an open doorway. Kane flicked up the flat toggle switch on the door-frame, and
the overhead fluorescent fixtures blazed on, flooding the armory with a white,
sterile light.
The big square room was stacked nearly to the ceil-ing with wooden crates and
boxes. Many of the crates were stenciled with the legend Property U.S. Army.
Glass-fronted gun cases lined the four walls, contain-ing automatic assault
rifles, many makes and models of subguns and dozens of semiautomatic blasters.
On the north wall were bazookas, tripod-mounted M-249 machine guns, mortars
and rocket launchers.
All of the ordnance was of predark manufacture. Caches of materiel had been
laid down in hermeti-cally sealed Continuity of Government installations
before the nukecaust. Protected from the ravages of the outraged environment,
nearly every piece of mu-nitions and hardware was as pristine as the day it
had rolled off the assembly line. Most of the items in the arsenal had been
taken by Lakesh from the Anthill over a period of years.
Grant hung back near the door, while Kane went to an open case of grens. The
man seemed uncom-fortable and not a little embarrassed.
"Something on your mind?" Kane asked as he se-lected an incendiary gren from
its cushion of foam rubber.
Passing a hand over his forehead, Grant shifted from one foot to the other and
mumbled, "As a matter of fact, there is. I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"Something& " Grant's voice trailed off, and then he blurted in an almost
desperate burst, "Something personal."
Kane was startled into speechlessness, so aston-ished he nearly dropped the
gren. He stared at Grant, nonplussed by the very concept of the man even
hint-ing about making a personal confidence. He could think of nothing to say
but to repeat, "Go ahead."
Lowering his voice to just above a whisper, reso-lutely not looking in Kane's
direction, Grant said, "At any time over the past few weeks, have you& I mean
has Domi& have you and her "
Grant broke off, heaved a deep sigh and stated mat-ter-of-factly, "Has Domi
come to you, in your quar-ters, or have you gone to hers?"
Kane felt his eyebrows crawling toward his hair-line. "What?"
"You heard me."
"Oh, I heard you. I just can't believe my ears." Kane felt a quiver of
embarrassment mixed in with a little guilt. During the Utah mission, he and
Domi had shared a room and she made it clear she would not be adverse to
sharing more than that with him. He had dashed cold water on her amorous
advance by reminding her of her devotion to Grant. That had been the end of
it, but he never mentioned the incident to anyone, not to Brigid and certainly
not to Grant.
Wearily, Grant said, "Just answer me, will you?"
"No, she didn't and no, we haven't." Kane cocked his head toward him. "Why do
you ask?"
"I have my reasons."
"I'm sure you do. I'd like to hear them."
Grant shook his head and murmured, "Domi is tired of waiting."
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James Axler - Outlanders - Doom Dynasty
"Waiting for what?"
"Waiting for me, waiting for us to get together. She accused me of being
impotent, and then threat-ened to go to the other men here. You included."
Kane's eyebrows arched even higher, and with a conscious effort, he lowered
them. Now he under-stood the reasons behind the bitterness and tension between
the two people. "Domi didn't include me, and as far as I know she hasn't gone
to the other men. You'd know about it if she had."
Grant swallowed, his face screwed up in misery. "Yeah, that's what I figured."
The two men shared an awkward, uneasy silence for a long moment. Kane finally
ventured, "Maybe it's time you were more honest with her, about your feelings.
Have you ever spoken to her about Olivia?"
Grant's head swung up, his lips compressed tightly.
"No, I haven't. It's none of her business. Or yours, either."
Kane bristled at Grant's tone but didn't respond to it. For the past year he
had wondered if his friend had tired of resisting the albino girl's charms and
surren-dered to them, and now he knew. Furthermore, he had suspected the
emotional wounds inflicted by his ra-ined affair with Olivia years ago in
Cobaltville had yet to fully heal. Until now, Kane had never asked Grant about
Olivia. The two men had observed an unspoken understanding that it was a
forbidden topic.
Kane raised conciliatory hands. "All right, all right I've told you what you
wanted to know."
As he returned his attention to the crate of grens, Grant intoned, "There's
something else."
"What is it?"
"I let one of Pollard's Mags go. I didn't allow the Tigers to chill him. I
tied him up, and when it was all over I set him free."
Kane bunked at him surprise. "Why?"
"His name was Mace& brother to the man we chilled in Cobaltville."
For a long tense stretch of seconds, Kane said noth-ing, searching his memory
for the face of the man. He nodded shortly. "It's done. You did what you
thought was right."
"Mebbe." Grant's tone was dubious. "I didn't see any sign of him in Redoubt
Charlie. That means he either didn't make it back, or he returned to
Cobalt-ville and reported what happened. And if he did that, Baron Cobalt will
sure as hell put two and two to-gether."
Kane exhaled noisily. "And he'll know we're on to him, and he might be
expecting us."
"Yeah."
Kane thought for a moment, then stated, "There's nothing that can be done.
We'll have to take our chances."
Hesitantly, Grant said, "There's one more thing."
Kane angled an eyebrow at him. "I'm listening."
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